[New Year's Address] Seo Jeong-hyeop, Acting Mayor of Seoul, "Prompt Establishment of Treatment Beds for Severe COVID-19 Patients"

Creation of 390,000 Jobs Next Year... Supply of 80,000 Public Housing Units by 2022
Thorough Stable City Administration and Fair Election Management

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government has designated 2021 as "a year of challenge for a new daily life for ten million citizens," strengthening COVID-19 prevention measures and expanding support for economic recovery and employment stability.

Seo Jeong-hyeop, Acting Mayor of Seoul, stated in his New Year's address on the 30th, "In this era of great transformation triggered by COVID-19, with the determination of 'Sujeokseokcheon (水滴石穿)'?the power of water droplets piercing through stone?we will proactively prepare a new daily life that will be completely different after COVID-19, overcoming the crisis we face together with citizens."

Acting Mayor Seo first announced, "We will establish a 59-bed 'Emergency Medical Center' at Seoul Medical Center and a 'Safe Respiratory Specialized Center' with 48 negative pressure beds at Boramae Hospital." This is to protect citizens' lives from not only temporary disasters but also constant infectious disease threats through a sustainable 'S-Prevention System' and a robust public healthcare network.

To prevent a recurrence of shortages of quarantine supplies such as masks experienced during the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak, a 'Disaster Management Resource Integrated Stockpile Center' with a total floor area of 10,000㎡ will be constructed by 2022.

Seoul will also expedite the early execution of 60% of the new year's budget in the first half of the year to promote early recovery of the livelihood economy. A total of 2.1576 trillion KRW will be invested to provide 393,000 direct and indirect jobs to citizens facing livelihood cliffs due to the spread of infectious diseases.

The supply of 240,000 public rental housing units, a policy for housing stability for low-income citizens, and housing supply through public redevelopment and other public maintenance projects will be carried out without delay. Acting Mayor Seo said, "By utilizing underused idle sites such as parking lots and rainwater pumping stations, we will supply 80,000 various types of public housing by 2022, and to ensure housing stability for future generations such as youth and newlyweds, we will newly purchase 4,100 rental housing units and provide broad support for rental deposits and monthly rents."

He also announced plans to supply 3,000 new types of 'Public Jeonse Housing' for low- and middle-income groups and to supply 17,000 'Equity Accumulation Sale Housing' units from 2023 through system improvements to help non-homeowners and real demanders purchase their own homes.

Additionally, the city plans to raise the utilization rate of national and public daycare centers, a core part of public childcare infrastructure, from 46% this year to 50% next year, and expand the neighborhood care centers for elementary school children to 10 per district, increasing the total to 254 centers.

In the post-COVID-19 era, Seoul will accelerate the clustering of technology-based industries in four high value-added innovative sectors: AI (Yangjae), K-BIO (Hongneung), Fintech (Yeouido), and Blockchain (Mapo). The city will also lead climate response efforts through large-scale public green remodeling projects and the installation of 2,000 electric vehicle chargers.

Acting Mayor Seo promised, "We will steadily carry out key projects promised to citizens, such as the new Gwanghwamun Plaza, public housing supply, and public Wi-Fi construction, and continue policies to create a gender-equal Seoul and support youth allowances." He added, "We will do our best to establish public service discipline to prevent organizational disruption under the acting mayor system and devote efforts to fair election management to ensure that the by-election on April 7 next year is conducted cleanly and strictly."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.